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• Aug 30, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Intellect Devourer

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  These brain-dog-looking things first appeared in the original AD&D Monster Manual. This is their 4e debut.

  The Lore

  Intellect devourers are psychic predators that evolved in the Far Realm and spread to the deep places of the world. They roam the underground and the Underdark, hunting other creatures using their psionic powers and draining their mental energy until only an empty husk remains.

  These monsters reproduce by forming larvae from the brain tissue of their slain victims. These larvae are known as ustilagors, and they hunt in packs until their first metamorphosis, which turns them into the adults known as Intellect Predators. Predators who manage to feed well and survive long enough undergo a second metamorphosis into a larger and more powerful form, known as an Intellect Glutton or Brain Collector.

  Each form is smarter than the last, though even ustilagors are dimly sapient. Intellect devourers can communicate via telepathy, but they don’t appear to have much in the way of a culture. They see other sapients as food, not as conversation partners.

  The Monsters

  All intellect devourers are Aberrant Magical Beasts with the Blind keyword. Blindness is an advantage in their case - they’re immune to gaze attacks and to the blinded condition. They can perceive the world and fight PCs just fine with their Blindsight 10.

  Their other signature trait is Mind’s Resilience. If they take damage while under an effect a save can end, they can roll a save immediately.

  Ustilagor

  Ustilagors are Small devourer larvae. They’re individually weaker than an adult, but they hunt in packs and are smart enough to coordinate. And as Level 7 Lurkers with 59 HP, they’re still pretty deadly. They have a ground speed of 6.

  Ustilagors will first try to secure combat advantage against their chosen victim. Attacking from ambush will do this, but if that’s not possible they can do this in two other ways. First they try Cloud Thoughts, a minor action attack that does no damage but makes the ustilagor invisible to the victim (save ends). If that fails they can use a Thought Lash, a ranged attack that does psychic damage and forces the target to grant combat advantage for a turn.

  Once it has CA, the Ustilagor will attack with Clinging Menace, which allows them to jump 4 squares without provoking attacks of opportunity and make a melee attack. This attack does very little damage, but it allows the larva to grab the target. While the grab lasts (Athletics DC 19 or Acrobatics DC 17 to escape), the victim is dazed and takes 5 ongoing damage.

  Ustilagors can also fight with their Claws, which are decent basic attacks. Those will likely be used to fend off the grabbed victim’s allies if they try to interrupt the meal.

  Intellect Predator

  This adult specimen is Medium. It has learned the most famous, and scariest, intellect devourer technique: psychic possession. As a Level 14 Controller with 140 HP, it’s quite dangerous. It has a ground speed of 8.

  Intellect Predators will try to open the fight with a Thought Lance (recharge 5+), a ranged attack that does no damage but stuns for a turn on a hit. If they fail to land this, they’ll use their robust Claws until they can try again.

  If the lance hits, they can use Body Thief on the stunned target. The attack does psychic damage and allows the predator to merge with the target, dominating them. Since the monster is merged, it can’t use its claw attack and occupies the same space as the target. Normally dominated targets are also considered dazed, so they can only take a single action on their turn. However, the predator can grant them an extra move or minor action with the Puppet Master ability, which costs the monster only a minor action. So for all intents and purposes the dominated target moves normally. They have a -2 to the save against this possesion, and when it finally ends the predator appears in an adjacent space.

  If the predator is surrounded it can use Mind Shock to attack every enemy in a close burst 5. On a hit this deals a bit of psychic damage and slides the enemy 1 square, which can open a way for the monster to run away.

  Intellect Glutton

  Intellect Gluttons are also sometimes called Brain Collectors. They used to be a different monster in earlier editions, but now they are a particularly large and old specimen of intellect devourer. Their advanced age only makes them stronger and more dangerous, since they had that much longer to absorb psychic energy.

  Their bodies are protected by a thick translucent carapace with markings that resemble human faces, which leads some to speculate that they extract people’s brains and physically absorb them. This isn’t true, but they’re still terrifying. A glutton can use its enhanced abilities to puppet victims remotely, and to control the bodies of the newly dead.

  Gluttons are Level 21 Controllers with 196 HP. They have the same Speed 8 of their younger relatives, and gain Spider Climb 6. They’re surrounded by a wide Thought Static aura (5) that inflicts a -2 penalty to Will for all enemies inside.

  Their Claws do average physical damage, but it will definitely prefer to stay a bit further away and target people inside its aura with psychic powers. Thought Feast is a non-damaging attack that dominates a target (save ends). The dominated target takes 10 ongoing psychic damage as the glutton feasts on its thoughts, and the monster itself is insubstantial while this effect lasts. Mockery of Life allows it to control a dead creature. It hits automatically (the target is dead!), and makes the creature regain 20 HP and become dominated. This lasts until the end of the encounter or until the creature drops to 0 HP again. Both abilities recharge whenever the monster is not dominating a target with either of them.

  The glutton also has a simpler ability named Mind Rend, a ranged attack that deals psychic damage and slides the target 1 square. Its main advantage is that the glutton can use it once per round as a minor action if it has a creature dominated.

  The above powers mean that gluttons will try to have both a living and a dead creature dominated whenever they can, and when that happens they’ll use Mind Rend twice per turn to support the actions of their thralls. Having a convenient corpse lying around the battlefield as the fight starts is a way to speed this process up. Otherwise the most likely dead target is going to be one of the other monsters in the encounter when it dies.

  Final Impressions

  Puppet Master makes the Intellect Devourer into one of the scarier dominator monsters I’ve seen, because the victim gets full turns and the monster is not targetable while this lasts. Make sure you don’t use more than one or two of them in a single fight, or things are going to get very annoying very fast. Save-granting powers and items are a vital tool when fighting them.

  Gluttons are actually a bit less annoying to handle since you can still attack them while they dominate someone. Mockery of Life is a wonderful power to use on dead artillery enemies after the PCs have moved away from the corpse.

  Intellect Devourers aren’t exactly geniuses despite all the brain theming. They do get smarter as they get older, though, and I think they’re always considered sapient. Considering their level and preferred environments, I think it’s plausible to meet a pack of Ustilagors in the same caves where you’d find troglodytes. Adult devourers might be allied with a balhannoth or with mind flayers, since they eat thoughts, not brains. And I could see a glutton making deals with a colony of swordwings: “I get their brains, you take their stuff”.

• Aug 29, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Imix, Part 2

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  In this post we’ll take a look at the kind of people who make up Imix’s cult in the middle world. As mentioned in Part 1, the cult promises to give its adherents the power to burn all that angers them, so it draws in all sorts of misanthropes, murderers, and people with all-consuming grudges. Rising through the cult’s ranks means allowing your free will to be burned out piece by piece. No matter your reasons for joining, soon all you’ll care about is serving your primordial master.

  Cultists of Imix can act covertly, infiltrating peaceful communities to sow sedition and discord. They can also act more openly, establishing strongholds and calling out to both recruits and mercenaries to help conquer the surrounding regions, immolating anyone who opposes them.

  The cultist lineup here is pretty diverse, species-wise, for the Fire Lord isn’t picky like those posers Yeenoghu and Baphomet. He’ll find a use for anyone willing to swear the oaths, even if that use is “walking bomb”. These stat blocks should be mixed with more “generic” stat blocks for humans and other humanoid or elemental opposition to build Imix-themed encounter groups. They’re not enough to do so on their own.

  Fire Lord Cultist

  This Level 5 Minion Brute represents the bulk of the cult’s low-ranking followers. They have a speed of 6 and fight with torches and clubs. Their melee attacks deal extra damage if they’re adjacent to an ally, so they have an incentive to cluster around a PC.

  They can also use that torch in the Ignite ability. This encounter power is a melee attack that targets Reflex and deals ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends). Make sure this is their first attack, because they might not get a chance to use it otherwise.

  Servant of the Fire Lord

  A more senior and better-trained cultist. Servants of the Fire Lord tend to hide out in sapient communities disguised as clerics of more benign deities. They use this cover to undermine the community and spread Imix’s influence over it.

  The Servant stat block depicts a half-elf. It’s a Level 6 Skirmisher with the Leader tag and 73 HP. Their ground speed is 6 and they have low-light vision.

  Servants try to always keep moving in order to benefit from their Wildfire Stride passive trait: if they move at least 3 squares, their attacks deal +5 fire damage for a turn.

  They wield scimitars that can perform a standard basic attack and an Immolating Strike, which is a bit weaker but deals ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends). The basic strike itself is also kinda weak - it’s the Wildfire Stride damage bonus that brings it to the expected level of damage.

  Their “leaderly” skill is the Gift of Fire (recharge 5+), a minor action that gives every ally within 5 squares a +5 fire damage bonus that lasts for a turn.

  Fire Temple Elect

  The name sounds important, but that’s a lie. Fire Temple Elects are cultists who had all of their will burned away but didn’t have the potential to master Imix’s mysteries. They proudly serve their master as walking bombs.

  Elects are Level 7 Minion Skirmishers with an excellent ground speed of 7. They employ human wave tactics, charging enemies with their shortwswords. When an elect drops to 0 HP, they trigger the Self-Immolation ability. When this happens the elect can move its speed as a free action, and then explode. This is a Close Burst 1 attack that targets Reflex and deals a bit of fire damage. It’s not selective, so if you have a bunch of elects close together the first one to get hit might trigger a chain reaction.

  Fire Temple Champion

  This one’s actually important. Champions also have little of their free will left, but unlike the Elects they were tough enough to handle a more substantial blessing. They’re tasked with protecting key locations and important individuals. I can also see them leading mercenary squads in operations important to the cult.

  The stat block in the book is for a dragonborn Champion, a Level 8 Soldier with 88 HP. She wears plate and wields a Fullblade (a big two-handed sword).

  The Champion has the same Wildfire Stride ability seen in the Servant of the Fire Lord, above. Her fullblade attacks mark for a turn, and do damage that’s only a couple of points below the expected average - Wildfire Stride makes them stronger than that average. If a marked enemy within reach moves on their turn, the Champion can use a Fiery Attack against them, dealing the same damage as a basic attack and inflicting ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends).

  If that marked enemy instead makes an attack that doesn’t include the champion as a target, she can use a Fiery Rebuke, a Close Blast 3 attack that targets only the triggering enemy, attacks Reflex and deals fire damage.

  And as a dragonborn, this particular champion also has one use of Dragon Breath per encounter. It works like the power for Dragonborn PCs, a Close Blast 3 that targets Reflex. It obviously deals fire damage, and marks those it hits.

  Flameborn

  Flameborn are priests who have attained sufficient rank to run a small temple/stronghold, with the goal of making it grow larger and more important. They’re ultimately in charge of those recruitment drives and raiding campaigns I mentioned earlier. In other words they’re accomplished middle managers.

  The stat block we get is a human priest, who is Level 15 Artillery with 111 HP and the Leader keyword. They have Speed 6 and Resist 10 Fire, the first Imix cultists actually resistant to their thematic element. They project an aura (5) named Fire Within, which grants Resist 5 Fire to all allies inside.

  Flameborn with with flails in melee and with fire bolts at range. The bolts also inflict ongoing fire damage. Once per encounter they can call down the Blessing of Imix, which covers a Close Burst 3. It acts as an attack dealing fire damage to enemies, and grands allies 10 temporary HP.

  Their final power is a minor action, Fiery Eye, which can target targets taking ongoing fire damage. It’s a rangged attack against Will that does no damage, slides the target 2 squares, and makes them grant combat advantage (save ends).

  Flameborn pair well with skirmishers that possess sneak-attack-like abilities. They can also grant fire resistance to their front-line without having to stand right behind it.

  Conflagration Orb

  This is not a cultist, but rather something they might summon with high-level rituals. Conflagration Orbs are avatars of Imix, and look like miniature suns. They contain a fragment of Imix’s power and are loyal only to him. They’ll work alongside the cultists that summon them, because the cult’s goals usually coincide with the primordial’s, but they are totally unconcerned with the safety of the cultists and will happily include them in their area attacks if it means hitting the PCs as well.

  It’s interesting that the book uses the word avatar here. It appears to be a primordial-specific term, since the equivalent entity for a god or demon lord is called an “Aspect”. Then again it could also be just an editorial oversight.

  Anyway, Conflagration Orbs are Level 20 Artillery with 143 HP. They can roll around at speed 6, but prefer to use their flight speed of 8 (hover) instead. They’re immune to disease and have Resist 20 Fire. Its basic melee attack is named Rolling Frame, and consists of bumping into people. The attack allows the orb to shift 1 square as an effect, targets Reflex, and deals immediate and ongoing fire damage. Its ranged Scorching Bolts have much the same effects but are stronger, and the orb can fire two of them against different targets in a single action.

  The orb complements this with occasional Fire Tempests (recharge 5+) which allow them to make three area attacks that deal fire damage and increase any ongoing fire damage the targets are suffering by 5. The three areas can’t have any squares in common.

  If the orb is surrounded it can release Waves of Flame to get some space. This deals fire damage in a Close Burst 3, and pushes any targets it hits 3 squares. It also creates a zone that lasts for a turn, partially obscures the orb, and deals 10 fire damage to enemies caught inside.

  Scorching Bolt and Fire Tempest are very strong powers, because they’re multi-attacks that each do the full expected damage amount for a monster of this level. The orb can’t target the same enemy multiple times, but it’s still very good at spreading the hurt around.

  Chosen of Imix

  The Chosen are the highest ranking priests in the cult. Each of them is in charge of a major temple and commands a sizable force of mortal followers, mercenaries, and elemental servants. They commune directly with Imix and transmit his orders to the other members of the court. This particular Chosen is a firesoul genasi.

  Chosen rarely leave their temple’s inner sanctum, as this is where their power is greatest. The book recommends making these sanctums into Fonts of Power, a special terrain type described in the DMG that enhances the damage of attacks that have a matching elemental keyword (fire, in this case). Since the Chosen is an epic tier enemy, they’ll be fighting in terrain that gives their fire attacks a whopping +15 bonus damage! PCs planning to attack a temple of Imix would do well to figure out a way to engage the Chosen outside this sanctum.

  Chosen are Level 22 Controllers with the Leader keyword. They have a stronger version of the Flameborn’s Fire Within aura, granting 10 fire resistance to all allies within 5 squares. Their basic melee attack is a dagger that damages targets and makes them vulnerable 10 to fire for a turn. Pretty much ever other attack they know has the Fire keyword, so they’re going to benefit from this vulnerability and from that Font of Power bonus damage.

  Their basic ranged attack is a Fire Orb that deals fire damage to the target, and 5 damage to each enemy adjacent to the target. Before they resort to that, though, they’ll fill the map with Servants of Elemental Fire. This power is a standard action that summons a “fire grue” to a space within 10 squares of the Chosen. Fire grues are minions with the same defenses as the Chosen. They can’t make attacks, but each enemy that starts their turn adjacent to one or more grues takes 10 fire damage (subject to those situational bonuses I mentioned earlier). The Chosen can spend a minor action to move all grues on the map up to 6 squares. They can have up to four grues summoned, or six when they’re bloodied.

  Once per encounter they can use Fire’s Fury to detonate a fire grue, attacking a Close Burst 1 around it. The explosion deals fire damage and dazes (save ends) on a hit.

  To cap it off we have a few triggered actions. Demand Focus triggers when an enemy willingly moves away from a fire grue without shifting. It attacks the enemy’s Will and slows them on a hit. Firepulse is an encounter power that triggers when the chosen is hit in melee, and it’s basically a Close Burst 1 fire attack. Finally, when the Chosen is reduced to 0 HP, they’re Claimed by Imix, and explode in a Close Burst 3 dealing fire damage and dazing (save ends) on a hit.

  Encounter Groups and Final Impressions

  These cultists weren’t all made to be used together. They’re too far apart in terms of level for that. Instead, they’re made to be added as “spice” to a group of other non-themed opponents of similar levels. These would represent mercenaries, or lower-ranking cultists that don’t necessarily have all these fire-based blessings. Good candidates include the many Human stat blocks, elementals, the occasional demon, and even some undead if you want to replicate the spread found in the Temple of Elemental Evil.

  There are plenty of fire-themed monsters in all of those categories, but it’s more interesting if you vary the composition of Team Monster and include some members who rely on untyped damage or other damage types. It will prevent your PCs from trivializing these encounters by stacking fire protection.

• Aug 25, 2022

  Let's Read Hell's Rebels Adventure 03, Part 01

  

  This is part of a series! Go to the project page to see all entries.

  It’s been quite a while since I posted an article on this series! There are several reasons for this, both real-world and blog-related. One of the latter ones was that these adventures were getting bigger. The detailed approach I took on Adventure 02 was meant to kinda be a stealth GURPS adaptation, but it probably wasn’t as helpful as I thought and it left me kinda burned out on Hell’s Rebels.

  I’m going to take a more condensed approach on Adventure 03, Dance of the Damned, and leave the detailed conversion bits for their own post. This one feels even bigger than Adventure 02, as it has three “dungeons” and a number of social encounters as well. I’ll try to cover them all with one post.

  One of the things that happened over the hiatus is that I ran the first adventure and most of the second for a group of my friends, over roll20 and using GURPS. So you can expect real conversion notes in the future!

  Introduction

  By the end of the previous adventure, the PCs had secured a permanent headquarters under the ruins of the Lucky Bones casino and completed several high profile missions that increased their fame and notoriety within the city of Kintargo. Even Barzilai Thrune, ruler of Kintargo and the campaign’s Big Bad, was forced to congratulate them on their “civic-mindedness” after they get rid of a dangerous serial killer.

  Thrune unwittingly helps them further by increasing the Bleakbridge toll to 2gp per crossing (or 10 for a day pass). This a trivial amount for the PCs by this point, but it’s prohibitive for a lot of the civilian population. You see, Kintargo is split into northern and southern halves by a river, and this bridge is the only crossing. Plus D&D sets the daily wage of a common laborer at about 1gp. So yeah, dick move on Barzilai’s part.

  Some people set up illegal ferry operations in response to this, at first charging just a few coppers and then doing it for free just to stick it to the Man. It’s quite possible the Silver Raven PCs themselves have already done this after the first couple of increases in previous adventures (like my group did). If they did that, they’re sure to gain a massive reputation boost. Even if they didn’t anti-Thrune sentiment should still help them gather supporters.

  With the rebellion poised to grow so much, it’s time to begin thinking bigger, and this is what Adventure 03 is about.

  Ah, yes, the book also mentions that the PCs might want to begin thinking about improving the Lucky Bones’ defenses. It doesn’t get attacked during this adventure, but there’s a high chance that will happen in the future.

  Chapter 1: The Silver Council

  If the PCs aren’t yet regularly meeting with the key NPC allies they’ve been making along the way, then one of these allies will suggest they begin doing so now. The book calls this group the Silver Council. It will at the very least be composed of Laria Longroad and Rexus from Adventure 01 plus Hetamon Haace from Adventure 02, and will also contain any other such allies the group makes in your game.

  The Silver Council’s first order of business in this adventure is an alliance proposal by Lady Mialari Docur, one of Haace’s good friends. She runs Lady Docur’s School for Girls, which is a real school but also a front for the closest thing Kintargo has to a functioning thieves’ guild. The offer is genuine, the numeric and political benefits are great, and the alliance is more or less automatic unless the PCs go out of their way to be assholes.

  After these pleasantries are concluded it’s time to discuss the next big steps in the rebellion’s progression. They have plenty of citizen support, but they should still secure official alliances with Kintargo’s noble houses. And even beyond that, they should gather regional support and prevent Thrune from doing the same. Kintargo is not the only city in the duchy of Ravounel, after all.

  Noble Alliances

  Kintargo’s eight remaining noble houses are a bit more similar to Renaissance families than to feudal ones. Their fortunes come from varied commercial interests in the duchy. We get a list of houses, a short stat line for their leaders, their political allegiance, the requirement for an alliance, and its mechanical benefits to the rebellion.

  Political allegiance can be either to Kintargo or to Thrune. Houses whose allegiance lies with Kintargo can be persuaded to support the rebellion if the PCs can impress their leaders and convince them the city would be better off if it declares independence from Cheliax. Failure to do so results in them staying neutral. Thrune-aligned houses can’t be convinced to ally with the Ravens. They’re also a bunch of evil slave traders, so we don’t want then on our side anyway.

  Four of the houses are Kintargo-aligned, three are Thrune-aligned, and one is undecided. This last one is House Aulorian, which will only ally with the Ravens if the PCs undo their good deed from Adventure 02 and return Marquel to them. I don’t imagine many groups will go for this, but the option is there. Unless this happens, they flip to Thrune when the chips are down.

  Regional Hot Spots

  Kintargo is the capital of the duchy of Ravounel, but it’s not its only city. The duchy is cut off from central Cheliax by an imposing mountain chain with a single pass through it. Most trade comes via sea.

  There are three important places related to the goal of gathering regional support in Ravounel:

  • The aquatic elf village of Acisazi, whose inhabitants can do a lot to defend Kintargo from Chelish naval actions. The PCs rescued scouts from this community in the previous adventure, which should give them an “in” with the local rulers.

  • The city of Vyre, a mostly independent “vice city” that’s a preferred vacation spot for the country’s nobility. The Chelish government wants to keep good relations to them because it loves its vacations; they want to keep good relations to Kintargo because they don’t have a decent sea port. Securing an alliance with Vyre would help with keeping Cheliax away.

  • The Menador Gap, that one mountain pass to Central Cheliax. If the pass is closed, it will prevent Chelish troops from marching directly into the province. They’d have to take the long way around and march through neighboring nations, which will be at the very least much harder.

  Each of these is its own chapter (or “Part”) in the book.

  Rumors

  We close with a round of rumors where the GM can insert the ones they like. The book notes two important ones: a reminder that the former Mayor of Kintargo is still missing, and the news that Barzilai Thrune is organizing a grand gala to assure the city everything is fine.

  The gala, named the Ruby Masquerade, will be the adventure’s climax.

  Notes and Impressions

  I think this is where the Adventure Path format hurt the actual adventure a bit. Both Lady Docur and the noble houses feel like things that could have been introduced way back in Aventure 01.

  An early introduction to Lady Docur give the PCs a good starting bonus on the “strategic layer” of the campaign, and allows her to act as the “face” of Kintargo’s black market when the PCs need to buy gear. I did that when I GMed Adventure 01 and had a lot of fun inserting Little Witch Academia characters as students / guild members.

  The noble houses also benefit from an early introduction. Securing alliances with them requires a lot of personal interactions with their leaders, so PCs who like the tradecraft and roleplaying aspects could have a good time researching their habits, arranging meetings, and negotiating with them. It also gives a little more weight to the decision of whether to rescue Marquel in the first place or not. Rescuing him still the right thing to do, IMHO, but it feels more organic to have it be inserted in a political context from the beginning.

  Chapter 2: Dead In the Deep

  Ravounel has a northern coast that’s mostly dominated by a huge tangle of reefs known as the Dismal Nitch. There are charted routes through this, but Kintargo is pretty much the only decent sea port in the region. The Acisazi village is located in the Nitch, and its sea elf inhabitants can easily swim all through it. They can do wonders to block those sea routes if they don’t like the people trying to sail through. The PCs should make sure they dislike Thrune.

  If the PCs saved the sea elf scouts from Adventure 02, they’re going to have a much easier time here.

  The Situation

  The Acisazi village has a submerged district and a coastal one, where its half-elf inhabitants live. It’s located near an underwater shaft called The Drowned Eye, a cursed place whose evil was contained by Acisazi wards. Back around the start of Adventure 01, though, these wards failed, and a strange malady began affecting the village’s inhabitants.

  Here’s the spoilerific truth: the wards failed because they were destroyed by Menotheguro, an aboleth necromancer who moved in around the time Adventure 01 was getting started. He’s working on focusing the Drowned Eye’s cursed energy into the creation of an epic undead creature called a “sea bonze” (i.e, an Umibozu).

  To protect himself, he’s raized an entire sunken ship’s crew as draugr, and a huge great white shark as a zombie. He also secretly placed Nerrenn, the village’s main protector, under long-term mental domination.

  Menotheguro’s draugr have been raiding the village and taking prisoners below the waves to serve as sacrifices in his magical workings. The elf scouts came to Kintargo to ask for Shensen’s help - she was a long-time friend of theirs. With her missing, though, the PCs are their only hope. If the scouts survive Adventure 02, their leader Aava can tell the PCs about the malady, the draugr raids, and that they serve someone named “Menotheguro”. She doesn’t know the rest.

  Negotiation

  Getting into the village is going to be hard even if the PCs bring the sea elf scouts with them. Nerrenn will receive them at the head of a crowd of hesitant half-elves. Acting as the village’s interim leader, he will deny then entry citing all sorts of paranoid reasons.

  PCs good at Diplomacy or Intimidation might convince him to allow an audience with the village’s Speaker. Otherwise there’s going to be a fight. Whether he’s browbeaten or just plain beaten up, Nerrenn will rush to his master’s side after this encounter. Perceptive PCs might realize he’s dominated, and might think to restrain him and try to dispel or suppress the effect. If they succeed at it, Nerrenn will spill the whole truth outlined above.

  Next is an audience with the village’s true leader, Speaker Athannah. This aged half-elf druid is close to death due to the curse. She will be an instant friend of the PCs if they brought the scouts back or revealed Nerrenn’s domination. Otherwise winning her over will require some more diplomacy on the PCs’ part. In either case, her condition for a formal alliance is the same: break the curse of the Drowned Eye and save the village.

  Dungeon: The Drowned Eye

  The Drowned Eye is a deep pit in the ocean floor near a particularly treacherous set of reefs. Its “curse” comes from the fact that a lot of ships sunk and fell into it over the years, saturating the place with a death aura. Menotheguro is at the bottom, protected by his guardians.

  This is a “dungeon” only in the sense that it’s a location with monsters. The layout is entirely linear, and the PCs will run through every encounter in the order listed. The biggest environmental complication is that it’s all underwater. By this point the PCs should have some experience with underwater combat, since it was a good bit of Adventure 02’s final dungeon. Acisazi Village should have more than enough water-breathing magic available even if they didn’t come prepared for this.

  When the PCs approach the vincinity of the hole, they’re going to be attacked by half of Menotheguro’s draugr contingent. If they haven’t yet dropped underwater, they’re going to have a surprise because the undead will surely try to sink their boat and/or drag then under.

  Dropping down into the Eye itself, the PCs are going to fight the zombie white shark on the way down. There is no ground, and their opponent is aquatic, making this fight extra-tricky even though the shark’s numbers aren’t particularly scary against the whole party.

  The bottom has the other half of the draugr, including their captain, and an entrance to Menotheguro’s cave.

  It’s almost guaranteed that the aboleth will notice the fight just outside his door. If that happens he’ll try to trick the PCs with an illusion after they deal with the draugr, claiming to be the ghost of a druid named “Menotha” who needs a cleansing ritual performed by a living druid so she can finally rest.

  If the PCs don’t fall for the illusion, the aboleth fights them immediately. If they do, he will wait for them to bring Athannah down here, dominate her and then fight the PCs.

  Menotheguro himself only has 3 levels of Necromancer, but those are stacked on top of an aboleth stat block so he’s certainly boss material. If Nerrenn escaped the surface he will be here at full health ready to fight alongside his master. He’s considerably more dangerous here because he has terrain advantage and has his shark animal companion with him.

  After the fight the PCs can destroy the runes etched in the cave’s wall to ruin Menotheguro’s ritual and cleanse the Eye. Then they can loot the pile of treasure in the corner.

  With the aboleth destroyed and the curse lifted, the PCs secure an alliance from Acisazi.

  Notes and Impressions

  This is by far the most “side-trekky” part of the adventure. It does have a connection to the overall campaign and its story is kinda interesting, which is good. On the other hand, its ends in an underwater “dungeon” featuring exactly a day’s worth of combat encounters placed in a straight line one after the other.

  I think this is enough to make skipping this chapter altogether a reasonable decision. In that case you can say Acisazi is actually fine, that Aava was a relative of the Speaker, and that rescuing her back in Adventure 02 is enough to secure the alliance. Escorting her back home is something one of the rebellion’s NPC teams might do, freeing the PCs up for the other scenes.

  Next up: a feast and a fort.

• Aug 24, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Imix, Part 1

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  Sit down dear readers, for there’s a lot of lore coming your way. Imix himself first appeared in the Fiend Folio for AD&D 1e, along with the other Elemental Princes. His writeup here also melds two classic stories from the 1e era.

  The Lore

  So, as it’s been mentioned a few times before, the god Tharizdun is probably the biggest asshole in all of 4e’s implied setting. Before even the Dawn War, he came across a shard of cosmic evil, and decided to use that in a bid to conquer the universe. He planted this shard in the Elemental Chaos as if it was a seed, and from this seed sprouted the Abyss. Tharizdun used the Abyss to generate an innumerable host of demons. Some of these were created through corruption (of elementals, of his own servants, and others). Others were formed directly from abyssal energies under Tharizdun’s direction.

  A lot of things happened after that but it suffices to say that Tharizdun’s attempt at conquest ultimately failed and the god was imprisoned by his peers in the most secure prison they could conceive. His name was erased from all records of the gods, some say from reality itself. We only know it because we’re the readers and we’re outside the setting.

  Fast-forward to the time of the Dawn War. The gods are slowly winning, for they are capable of teamwork and their proud enemies are not. Except, that is, for a group of 5 Primordials who were contacted by a mysterious entity that introduced itself as the Elder Elemental Eye. The contacted Primordials believed they had just lucked into a direct line to the first Primordial, and so they readily accepted its offer of power in exchange for loyalty. They called themselves the Elemental Princes from that point onward.

  The alliance between the Elemental Princes was far from ironclad, but it was enough to allow them to get through the War with both their lives and their freedom. They’re still out there, in the Elemental Chaos, plotting to overthrow the gods and free their master.

  Spoiler alert: The Elder Elemental Eye is a pseudonym for Tharizdun. Serving and worshiping the Eye funnels power to the Chained God so that he might one day break free of his prison.

  This entry concerns Imix, the Evil Elemental Prince of Fire. As the name implies, he represents all the bad things one usually associates with fire. Uncontrolled passions, rage, indiscriminate destruction. Though he is technically free, Imix lives in a state of self-imposed house arrest. He has a stronghold built into the caldera of an active volcano, and he never leaves it. His attempts to influence the world and advance his plan all go through his agents and cultists.

  Imix’s cult in the middle world is unusually large and active for a primordial’s. It accepts misanthropes, murderers, and those who are angry at the world and willing to swear any oath for the power to take revenge. Whatever their individual reasons might be, they eventually cease to matter, as advancing in the cult means having pieces of your free will burned away until your only wish is to do Imix’s bidding and help free the Eye.

  They usually hide out among sapient communities and sow division and discord, encouraging its inhabitants to rebel and fight among themselves. Their temples tend to be built inside ruins and other scary places. The cultists protect them vigilantly and burn to death anyone who gets too close.

  More important temples are usually dedicated to the Elder Elemental Eye and protected by two or more Elemental Prince cults, who spend as much time sabotaging and upstaging one another as they do actually advancing the Eye’s cause. The cult’s greatest seat of power in the middle world is the legendary Temple of Elemental Evil, protected and operated by all the Elemental Prince cults and any mercenaries and servants they manage to recruit.

  The Numbers

  This entry concerns Imix himself. We’ll take a look at his cultists in the next one.

  Imix is a Huge Elemental Humanoid with the Fire and Primordial keywords. I think he’s the first monster to carry that last one, but he won’t be the last. He’s a Level 32 Solo Controller with 1140 HP. He has darkvision, a ground speed of 10, and a flight speed of 8 with Hover. He is immune to disease and fire.

  The heat from Imix’s Withering Flames acts as an aura (5) that strips all fire resistance from any enemies inside. His basic attack is a Reach 3 Blazing Blade that deals immediate and ongoing fire damage, and the Blazing Arc maneuver allows him to attack every enemy in reach with a single action.

  Imix can call up Servants of Elemental Fire, summoning four Fire Grues, or six if he’s bloodied. Fire Grues are minions with the same defenses as Imix. Grues don’t attack, but any enemy that ends their turn adjacent to one or more grues takes 15 fire damage. Imix can move all of them up to 6 squares with a single minor action, and the summoning power recharges if there are no grues in the field.

  He can also use Volcanic Circle to detonate a grue, dealing heavy fire damage in a Close Burst 1 around the minion. This creates a zone that lasts until the end of the encounter and deals 20 fire damage to enemies that enter it or end their turns there. Yes, this is at-will. Once the battle against Imix starts, the entire battlefield will very soon be on fire.

  Blinding Flare is a minor action that attacks all enemies adjacent to grues in a Close Burst 10, dealing fire damage and blinding (save ends). A miss deals half damage and imposes a -2 penalty to attack rolls for a turn. This recharges when Imix is first bloodied.

  Hungry Flames is another minor action that targets every enemy taking ongoing fire damage within 10 squares. It weakens them (save ends) and deals 10 fire damage to any creature adjacent to them.

  If an enemy tries to move away from a grue, Imix can use Demand Focus to attack their Will and daze them for a turn. If an enemy misses him with a melee attack, Formed of Fire deals 10 damage to that enemy and any ally adjacent to them. And if Imix is affected by a save-ends effect, Eternal Resilience allows him to roll a save against that effect immediately in addition to the normal saves everyone gets.

  I guess Imix will use grues to surround the party, and the grue-based attacks to blind the PCs and prevent them from getting away. He will detonate enough grues to light the battlefield on fire, and will strive to keep the PCs within his aura as he attacks them with his blazing sword. Once enough PCs are taking ongoing damage, he will use Hungry Flames and keep attacking.

  For extra pain, you can set the battle in a Font of Power aligned to Fire. This is a special terrain type listed in the DMG that gives damage bonus to attacks with the appropriate damage type. An epic one gives +15 damage, and it certainly makes sense for Imix’s own seat of power to qualify as a Font.

• Aug 22, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Howler

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  Howlers totally feel like a 3e monster, probably because of the art. I suppose they might have shown up in AD&D too, it’s not like the game was ever shy about adding one more dog monster to the pile.

  The Lore

  Howlers are spiky, sapient quadrupedal predators that feed on fear. They’ve evolved to hunt in a way that’s as terrifying as possible. Younger howlers are quick to kill because they enjoy the spike of fear the victim feels when it dies, but older specimens are sophisticated enough to hold whole villages hostage with the threat of death-by-howler and feed off the ambient terror.

  The most legendary howler of all is known as Terror Incarnate. This creature managed to devour the fear felt by an entire army as it died, and this excess power turned it into something like a demigod of terror. Its eventual progeny inherited its powers.

  There’s some fuzzy edges in their lore. It mentions howlers attacking people in the middle world and in the Underdark, mentions associations with shadar-kai, but gives the creature an Elemental origin. I think they might fit better as either Natural or Shadow. Fortunately origin doesn’t influence stats. Alternatively you might go the other way and make them a type of demon.

  The Numbers

  As mentioned above, Howlers are Elemental Magical Beasts. They have Darkvision and a Speed of 8. They understand Abyssal but can’t speak.

  Howler Dread Hound

  One of those young specimens that kills too quickly. They gather in huge packs to massacre whole villages at once. They are Medium Level 9 Minion Controllers with a speed of 8. At Int 5, they’re sapient but dim.

  As with all “dog monsters”, their basic attack is a bite. This one does a bit of damage and slides the target 1 square on a hit. They also have a Piercing Spines trait that deals the same damage as the bite to anyone who misses them with a melee attack. The ability that gives them their name is the Dread Howl encounter power, a fear attack that catches every enemy in a Close Blast 5 and targets Will. A hit does a bit of psychic damage and makes the target grant combat advantage for a turn.

  These are minions, so there will always be a lot of them when they appear. A bit of orchestration could ensure PCs grant combat advantage for most of the fight.

  Howler Doom Mastiff

  An older, fully developed howler who has learned the value of prolonged psychological torture. They roam ruins and tunnels in small packs, looking for victims to terrify. They are Large Level 13 Skirmishers with 129 HP and a speed of 8.

  Doom Mastiffs are large enough to ride, and they have the Mount keyword. As they have Int 9, I think this is more of an equal partnership thing than the rider “keeping” the howler as a mount or pet. The Guarding Spines trait gives the mastiff’s rider a +2 bonus to AC. Its Piercing Spines does 10 damage to anyone who misses the howler or its rider with a melee attack.

  Their basic Bites are a little weak but can be used as part of a Loping Bite attack that allows the mastiff to shift half its speed and bite. Their Terrifying Howl is a lot stronger than the dread hound’s: it deals 10 ongoing psychic damage to those it hits, and makes them grant combat advantage (save ends). Targets adjacent to the mastiff can’t save agains this. Finally, this is a (recharge 6+) power instead of an encounter power. So it might happen more than once!

  Being all about that delicious fear, the mastiff will open with a howl and then will do its best to stick to one of the affected PCs, using move actions and Loping Bites to do so. It’s smart enough to prefer a squishy victim over a defender, too.

  Howler Terror Incarnate

  The one that devoured an army’s collective fear and became a demigod of terror. It’s a Large Level 22 Lurker with 155 HP.

  The terror’s Shadow Spines work a lot like that of its lesser relatives, but deal necrotic damage. It also has a Terror Incarnate aura (3) that deals 10 psychic damage per turn to any enemies inside.

  Their basic bite deals the same damage as that of the level 13 doom mastiff, which I’m almost sure is a typo. It can also possess people with the Shadow of Terror power. This is a melee attack that can only be used against people who can’t see the howler, and who haven’t been possessed during the fight yet. On a hit, the howler is removed from play and the target is dominated (save ends). The target’s at-will attacks deal an extra 1d8 psychic damage and target Will instead of their original defenses. The posession ends when the target passes a save or takes radiant damage - when this happens, the howler reappears adjacen to them. The target is then dazed (save ends).

  Their final attack is the Death Howl, another blast attack. This one does immediate psychic damage and dazes (save ends) on a hit.

  Shadow Lope (recharge 4+) provides the ability to set up for a Shadow of Terror attack: it allows the howler to become invisible for a turn and move its speed.

  Final Impression

  Howlers are far from the first dog monsters to show up in D&D. They’re not even the first dog monsters with fear powers. Still, you can use them in your campaign in place of wargs and other similarly-leveled canine menaces for added variety. The Doom Mastiff’s ability to act as a mount also makes it an possible replacement for a Nightmare. Anyone who would ride an Evil Fire Horse would also certainly ride an Evil Fear Dog.

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